Often it is desirable to cover and decorate walls with paintings, pictures, and various ornamental and decorative objects, or to hang items of use on walls for storage. This is usually done by drilling or otherwise making a hole in the wall and securing a holding device in the hole to hang the item on. This method works well for plaster walls where a hole can be patched easily if the item and holding device is later moved to another location or removed altogether.
If the wall is made of brick it is more difficult to fix a holding device to the wall. Brick being a brittle material can chip, crack, or portions can break away when drilling or installing the holding device. It is also difficult to repair any damage or holes made in the wall in an aesthetically pleasing way if the item and holding device is later moved.
Several attempts have been made to provide a solution to this problem. Laarman U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,623, issued Jun. 11, 1991, discloses a hanging device for brick walls that is held in place in a mortar groove in the wall using two machine screws. This device requires the use of tools to install. Its manufacture requires the drilling and threading of a number of holes in its base plate to allow it to be used with different sized mortar joints. This increases the cost of manufacturing the device and limits the size mortar grooves it can be used in.
Call, U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,915, issued Jul. 5, 1982, discloses a brick clip-on hanger which is placed over the front surface of a brick and held in place on the top by a flange with a serrated edge projecting into the top surface on the brick and by a lower spring part engaging the bottom surface of the brick to draw the teeth downward into the brick's upper surface. This requires a flat brick face to work properly, and is highly visible on the front face of the brick when installed.
Richards, U.S. Pat. No. 23,471,584, issued May 31, 1949 discloses a brick clip for fixing pipe, flashing or the like to a brick wall. The clip is placed in a mortar groove and has teeth projecting upwards into the under side of an upper brick. Two hooks project upwardly into the groove and a flange extends downwards over the face of the brick. The hooks are used for wiring a pipe to the clip. The flange may also be used for frictionally engaging cap flashing on the brick. This clip has limited holding power, because it is held in place by the teeth engaging only brick on the upper side of the mortar joint. It is not appropriate for hanging pictures and the like in that there is no appropriate means to engage the picture wire. The clip is not adaptable to different mortar groove widths and depths. As with Cali, the clip is visible on the front face of the brick when installed.
Other devices that mount on the front face of a brick are disclosed in Thomason, U.S. Pat. No. 274,672, issued Mar. 27, 1883 and Erickson, U.S. Pat. No. 1,439,302, issued Dec. 19, 1922.
The present invention is concerned with an improved device for hanging objects from brick walls.